Author: Anadolu Agency
The French and German foreign ministers met on Friday the leader of Syria’s new administration and called for an inclusive transition of power, in their first official visit to the war-torn country since the fall of the Assad regime in December. Jean-Noel Barrot and Annalena Baerbock were received by Ahmed al-Sharaa in Damascus. During the talks, Barrot and Baerbock “reaffirmed the desire for a peaceful and demanding transition, representative of Syrian society in its diversity,” according to a statement from the French Foreign Ministry. They expressed their commitment to supporting a broad-based transition process, with both ministers highlighting the inclusion…
Türkiye’s defense and aerospace industry achieved a significant milestone in 2024, recording $7.2 billion in exports, a 29% surge from the previous year, head of the Turkish Defense Industries Secretariat said on Friday. This achievement surpasses the year’s defense export target of $6.5 billion by 11%, Haluk Gorgun announced on X platform. Highlighting the industry’s robust international performance, Gorgun said: “Thanks to our international cooperation activities and contacts, our companies have become able to export not to a certain region but to almost the entire world.” Gorgun emphasized the sector’s commitment to innovation and global outreach. “We are determined to…
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Friday said that Türkiye’s righteous position on Gaza will be vindicated by history just as it was in Syria. “Just as we have been proven right in the case of Syria, history will attest to our righteousness in the Gaza crisis as well,” President Erdoğan said at a Türkiye Exporters Assembly event in Istanbul. He said Türkiye’s commitment to justice, peace, and compassion will be proven to be the right approach. Bashar Assad, Syria’s leader for nearly 25 years, fled to Russia after anti-regime groups took control of Damascus on Dec. 8, ending the Baath…
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) on Thursday condemned an attack early New Year’s Day that killed at least 15 people and injured dozens in the state of Louisiana. “We strongly denounce this crime, we stand in solidarity with the people of New Orleans, we encourage anyone with relevant information to come forward immediately, and we pray for a full recovery of those impacted by this crime,” CAIR said in a statement. The denunciation came after a man intentionally drove a pickup truck into a crowd of revelers on Bourbon Street in the French Quarter. The suspect was identified as…
Türkiye has vowed to protect all “aggrieved groups” in Syria, the country’s foreign minister said on Thursday. “Whether it’s a majority or minority in Syria, whoever it may be — Nusayris, Alevis, Yazidis, Christians, anyone — Türkiye is their protector and guardian as it is for all the others in this new period,” Hakan Fidan told a joint news conference with his Belgian counterpart Bernard Quintin in Ankara. He said that during the oppression of the Assad regime, millions of Sunni Arabs were displaced, including Turks, and had to seek refuge in other countries. Fidan emphasized that Türkiye did not…
At least five Palestinians, including a child, were killed and several others injured in fresh Israeli airstrikes in the Gaza Strip on Thursday evening, a medical source said. Three people lost their lives, including a child, in a strike targeting a tent sheltering displaced civilians in the southern city of Khan Younis, the source said. Two more people were killed and others injured when Israeli forces shelled a group of civilians in Gaza City, he added. Gaza’s Civil Defense Service called the Israeli military escalation “clear insanity.” “We are no longer able to respond to all distress calls amid relentless…
Türkiye is determined to protect all “aggrieved groups” in Syria, the country’s foreign minister said on Thursday. “Whether it’s a majority or minority in Syria, whoever it may be — Nusayris, Alevis, Yazidis, Christians, anyone — Türkiye is their protector and guardian as it is for all the others in this new period,” Hakan Fidan told a joint news conference with his Belgian counterpart Bernard Quintin in Ankara. He said that during the oppression of the Assad regime, millions of Sunni Arabs were displaced, as well as ethnic Turks, and had to seek refuge in other countries. Fidan emphasized that…
Israeli warplanes launched an airstrike on Tel al-Shahem, southwest of the Syrian capital Damascus, on Thursday, local sources told Anadolu. The sources said the targeted site had been used as a military base by the Bashar al-Assad regime before its fall. Loud explosions were heard in Damascus during the strike, the sources added. Assad, Syria’s leader for nearly 25 years, fled to Russia after anti-regime groups took control of Damascus on Dec. 8, ending the Baath Party’s regime, which had been in power since 1963. The takeover came after Hayat Tahrir al-Sham fighters captured key cities in a lightning offensive…
Palestinian-American entrepreneur and art curator Faisal Saleh said after Israel decided to close its embassy in Dublin, he began efforts to lease the building and convert it into a Palestinian museum. “This will be a very powerful symbolic move where Palestinian art replaces the genocidal entity representation in Ireland,” Saleh told Anadolu. Saleh, the founder and director of the Palestine Museum US in Connecticut, spoke with Anadolu about his family’s forced displacement following the Nakba in 1948, the museum’s establishment in the US, and his initiative to convert Israel’s former embassy in Dublin into a museum. Born in 1951 in…
The World Health Organization’s (WHO) director-general on Thursday called on Israel to allow more medical evacuations from Gaza. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus wrote on X that “the pace of evacuations remains excruciatingly slow.” He recalled that only “5,383 patients have been evacuated with support from WHO since October 2023, of which only 436 since the Rafah crossing was closed.” The WHO chief stressed that over “12,000 people still need medical evacuation.” “At this rate, it would take 5-10 years to evacuate all these critically ill patients, including thousands of children. In the meantime, their conditions get worse and some die,” he…